Threat to flights: 16 cases registered in Delhi likely to be transferred to NIA

New Delhi: At least 16 cases registered in connection with threats to flights of different airlines operating from Delhi are likely to be transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), officials sources said on Friday.

It has been learnt that the Delhi Police has written to the city government's home department to transfer the cases to the NIA, they said, adding that it would be further sent to the Union home ministry for final approval.

"The matter was related to national security and it has an international ramification. All these 16 cases were registered under the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation (SUA SCA) Act with BNS sections and they needed deeper probe," an official source said.

In the last two weeks of October, more than 510 domestic and international flights received bomb threats that later turned out to be hoaxes, causing major operational and financial distress for the airlines across the country. Most of the threats were issued through social media.

Police sources said 16 cases were registered in response to the threats to more than 150 domestic or international flights operating from Delhi.

The first case was registered on October 16 following a bomb threat received via X targeting a Bengaluru-bound Akasa Air flight. The aircraft, carrying over 180 passengers, was forced to return to the national capital, they said.

The Indira Gandhi International Airport police, along with the Cyber cell, IFSO, conducted the probe into the matter but they have not got any lead into any of the cases as of now.

"The threat messages were sent via VPN (Virtual Private Network) due to which the agencies are not able to get its exact domain or server. In some cases, the servers from which these messages were routed were located in European countries like the Union Kingdom and Germany," another official source said.

The Delhi Police is also taking the help of central agencies to reach out to Interpol to access further details of the domain, he added.

The Delhi Police, while investigating the threat cases, also interrogated one Jagdish Shriram Uikey (35) of Gondia, Maharashtra.

"Jagdish had sent an email to a central government minister stating that he was having information regarding the sender. The team when interrogating him found the claim to be bogus," the source said.

He told police officers that some terrorist group had sent those messages.

Jagdish, who studied up to Class 11, had also written a book on terrorism "Atankwad-Ek Tufaani Rakshash", the source added.

Against the backdrop of a spate of hoax bomb threats in October, the IT ministry asked social media platforms to observe due diligence obligations and promptly remove or disable access to misinformation within the strict timelines prescribed under the IT rules.